Two lemurs look surprised to see visitors during fall 2014 at Cameron Park Zoo. The park recently restructuredits adopt-an-animal program to help with zoo funding. Linda Wilkins | Lariat Editor-in-chief

By Carly LaucellaStaff Writer

Are you in touch with your wild side? Animal lovers can now show support for their favorite inhabitants of Waco’s Cameron Park Zoo, thanks to the zoo’s recently revamped “Adopt an animal” program.

Terri Cox, exhibit curator said the expanded Cameron Park Zoo and “Adopt an animal” program opened to the public in 1983. In 2013, the zoo added new benefits for program participants. It now offers those who donate $100 a behind the scenes look into the zoo animals with a zookeeper.

Through the program, people are able to symbolically adopt an animal of their choice. The proceeds help pay for the zoo’s annual grocery bill of over $200,000. Through the purchase and adoption, the zoo is able to buy food, such as apples, mealworms, carrots, hay and crickets for the animals according to Cameron Park Zoo’s website.

The zoo houses around 1,300 animals from around the world. Many of which are endangered. They rely heavily on donations from the Waco community that help with food, maintenance and sustainability.

“The zoo is basically a great outdoor classroom, a wonderful place for education and is hugely important for conservation,” Cox said. “The animals that are born in zoos represent their wild counterparts and are the ambassadors for their counterparts. When people visit zoos they are not only learning about these animals, but are helping with their conservation efforts in the wild.”

The are more than 16 different animals available for “adoption.” Some include orangutans, Ocelots, Komodo Dragons, African Elephants and Sumatran Tigers.

With a $25 donation, participants receive a certificate, an animal fact sheet and a photo of their chosen adopted animal. Those who donate $50 get the previously mentioned items along with a stuffed animal. Those who donate $100 get all the items mentioned in the $25 and $50 donations plus a behind the scenes look at their adopted animal with a zookeeper.

“When people get to have a behind the scenes look at the animals it’s very enlightening to them and they are able to see the bond the animals and the keepers have with each other,” Cox said.

Cox said this educational opportunity allows a closer look into the lives of some of the most beloved animals at the Cameron Park Zoo, all while contributing to their upkeep and preservation. She said it helps zookeepers to care for the animals in a stress-free way.

Anthony Khoury, head of Middle East and Africa expansions for Uber, displays the application on a mobile phone during an event to celebrate the official launch of the car-hailing service in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2015. Cairo soft launched the company in Nov. 2014. Uber is now in over 270 cities in 55 countries, according to the company. (Associated Press)

By Amanda Yarger
Reporter

After a quick registration process and the link of a credit card on an app, a request for a ride is all that is necessary to connect with the multi billion-dollar business Uber, the drive-share company that has partners in over 200 cities.

Uber is accessible through its app or site for both users and drivers. Upon signing in, users simply provide their location and destination, and an Uber-certified driver in the area will arrive to pick them up.

Since its launch this past August in Waco, the company has seen significant growth. In January, Uber’s Waco trip usage went up 200 percent, spokeswoman Debbee Hancock wrote in an email to the Lariat.

Despite the various transportation alternatives Waco offers — including taxis, rental cars, the Waco Transit System and Zipcar rentals, Uber expanded to Waco because of Uber’s initiative to provide more transportation options for college towns, Hancock said.

Texas leads the nation in drunken driving casualties, according to the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility. However, cities that currently have Uber as an option have seen a significant decrease in drunken driving related deaths, a Mothers Against Drunk Driving report concluded.

Rides have a base fare of $1.90 and an additional $1.75 per mile, or, 25 cents per minute. However, this rate is subject to change through Surge Pricing, which is Uber’s way of raising or lowering prices depending on supply availability.

Brooklyn Center, Minn., junior Beulah Momanyi said that although she’s never used the service in Waco, she found it useful in bigger cities like Dallas where parking may be scarce and expensive.

“I got a ride through Uber because it was a lot quicker and more direct than the shuttles (available),” she said. “It was pretty cool because I was late for my flight. I had never used Uber before and it was between Uber and a taxi — and taxis are expensive.”

On Feb. 2, Uber released its intention of partnering with Carnegie Mellon University to create the Uber Advanced Technologies Center in Pittsburgh. The Center’s concentration will be on creating technology vital to providing “safe, reliable transportation to everyone, everywhere” — the company’s main mission, Uber said in a press release.

A question of safety is one reason that Momanyi said she has not used the service in Waco.

“I don’t know who’s registered for Uber (in Waco),” she said. “Granted, it could be the same thing in Dallas, but for whatever reason I just feel safer in Dallas than I do in Waco.”

Although there is not a set quota for the number of drivers an area can have, in order to become an Uber driver, an applicant needs to have an Uber-approved car model, pass a background test and upload materials such as a driver’s license to Uber, according to the Uber site. Another reason that the number of drivers may vary is because Uber drivers are considered independent contractors. This means that they can choose if, and when to give rides to customers.

The Uber driver standards for Dallas and Waco are the same, but driving distances also play a factor in why Momanyi said she doesn’t use the service in Waco.
“There’s no where in Waco far enough for me to require Uber a lot,” she said.

Brian Pennington, a doctoral candidate in the mathematics department, said he’s used the service in multiple cities, including several trips within Waco.

Pennington said a benefit of the service is that it is relatively cheap. In addition, the service is valuable during times he cannot use his own car or on weekend outings.
“It’s been great, pretty much every time I’ve done it in different cities,” he said.

As the service grows in popularity in Waco, the company will continue its mission to provide safe, affordable transportation.

“We are working hard to make the streets of Waco a safer place for everyone,” Hancock said.

Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, wears her medical scrubs as she speaks to an anti-abortion group outside the Texas Capitol, in Austin, Texas. Campbell is also an emergency room doctor. (Associated Press)

By Will Weissert
Associated Press

AUSTIN — Texas is proud of its part-time Legislature, where many lawmakers make non-political livings and only pass laws on the side. That’s why their annual pay is only $7,200 plus expenses, and sessions come just once every two years.

But the 140-day session is so long that Texas often doesn’t even rank in the top 10 nationally for least legislative days worked over two-year periods, a list that includes nine states where legislatures convene annually. Those are long hours for a deeply conservative state obsessed with small government, yet not enough to avoid a parade of special sessions that have become a staple over the last decade and a half.

Proponents of moving Texas to annual sessions criticize having to hammer out multibillion-dollar two-year budgets that are projected so far into the future that accuracy can suffer. In addition, the other legislatures that meet biennially— Nevada, Montana and North Dakota — are in sparsely populated states that face different challenges than a place as large as Texas.

Still, little support exists to change a part-time tradition in place since the Texas Legislature first convened in 1846.

“It makes us look less like Washington,” said Sen. Donna Campbell, a New Braunfels Republican who’s also an emergency room doctor.

Legislative work could go faster, but the Texas Constitution prohibits lawmakers from passing or even having floor debates on most bills during the session’s first two months. That time is meant to allow deliberation on would-be laws before lawmakers vote on them.

“The first 60 days is like two-a-days for legislators,” said first-term Republican Rep. Cecil Bell of Magnolia, referring to the opening of football training camp when teams practice twice daily, but actual games are still weeks away.

Rather than weeding out bills early, the result is usually a scramble to get everything done late. And often there is extra work pending after session ends: Gov. Rick Perry called 12 special sessions during his 14-year tenure that ended last month.

Every-other-year sessions also mean living with the consequences longer. In 2011, lawmakers passed a last-minute transportation code that mistakenly eliminated fines for driving without front and back license plates — and couldn’t fix it until 2013.

Laredo Democratic Rep. Richard Pena Raymond has long filed bills to have the Legislature meet in off-years, but only to discuss state budget bills.
Raymond says many colleagues privately applaud his proposal since it would ease budget-writing headaches. “But politically, you’ll have a lot of members that are afraid of somebody saying, ‘Oh no, they’re going to be in session every year, they’re going to have more laws,” he said.

Legislative Budget Board spokesman R.J. DeSilva said there’s no recent estimate on the cost of the 140-day legislative session beyond $150 daily per diems paid to lawmakers. But Texas keeps costs in check by keeping lawmakers’ salaries so low, explaining why so many have other full-time careers.

Relying on other income sources can create conflicts of interests, like in 2011 when a Houston lawmaker passionately decried stricter regulation of payday loans because they would hurt his own payday loan businesses. The practice is common nationwide, though, since few states pay their legislators salaries high enough to make comfortable livings.

Campbell sometimes works nights and weekends at an Austin clinic to avoid a 60-mile drive home. She said that during her first session in 2013 “there were times that I would get off my shift at 7 a.m. and be in the Senate at 9.”

After ten years of preparation, Prosper Waco will host their inaugural event from 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Waco Convention Center in an effort to introduce themselves to the Waco community.

Prosper Waco is a collective impact initiative, where multiple groups come together for the sake of one cause, that has been in the works for almost a decade, geared towards the improvement of the education, health and financial security of the Waco.

“Collective impact is a collaborative approach across multiple sectors of the community to align resources and create progress towards a common agenda,” said Prosper Waco team member Kim Kazanas.

The initiative consists of eight board members who are considered community leaders, past and present, including Mayor Malcolm Duncan and former mayor Virginia DuPuy, according to the website.

“You don’t have to be a certain age or have so much experience in your field in order to be an active and engaged community member,” said Woodville senior Kristyn Miller, student body external vice president. “We as college students right now can be fully engaged and fully supportive of community efforts and improvements.”

Prosper Waco has capped the registration on the inaugural event with around 500 community members signed up to attend.

“We are kind of kicking off our organization at that event,” Kazanas said. “In two general sessions we will talk about the concepts of collective impact and what that means for Waco.”

During the first half of the event, the group will learn all about what the collective impact initiative is. In the second half of the event, the group of 500 will break into three groups, each relating to the different impact areas for open sessions to discuss goals and expectations for the future of Waco.

“Our structure is such that we define goals for where our community needs to be,” Kazanas said.

In the groups, participants will work on goals for Waco for where the community members want to see the city improve in the future, Kazanas said.

In terms of accomplishing each goal, Prosper Waco will look to organizations for help in achieving their goals.

“We would begin to consider even funding some of those programs to support those goals,” Kazanas said. “We are kind of creating a strategic plan for Waco.”

Baylor students can get involved with this initiative by volunteering their time in seeing the initiative projects through.

“Baylor students should want to see Waco prosper,” Miller said. “For four years, this place is our home and for four years we should care for it in the most thorough and compassionate way possible.”

While this is not a student government-led initiative, Miller said she wants students to get involved and do what they can to help.

Authorities recover an unidentified suspect’s vehicle from the shoulder on Interstate 35 outside the City of Lorena. Skye Duncan | Lariat Photo Editor

By Skye Duncan
Photo Editor

The driver of a green Ford Expedition was shot and killed by police Wednesday afternoon after a car chase involving gunfire concluded near Lorena city limits.

The man was a suspect in multiple local armed robberies, including a robbery at a 7-11 in Woodway on Monday night, police said. Police did not expressly connect the suspect to any of the recent robberies near campus.

“He presented a threat to the officers and we had to use lethal force,” said Waco Police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton.

No authorities or civilians were injured according to Waco Police.

Waco police saw the suspect in a vehicle, which was on a watch alert. Authorities tried to stop him in East Waco, but after he fled a pursuit along Interstate 35 began at about 12:28 p.m., said Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper D.L. Wilson.

Authorities said the suspect drove up to 85 mph while fleeing from police.

The suspect avoided road spikes deployed by different agencies, including the Lorena Police Department, several times before running into a ditch, police said. He then exited the vehicle, Swanton said, and presented a threat towards authorities.

Woodway public safety chief Yost Zakhary said he did not see the suspect with a weapon.

Authorities drew a 2-D map of the area to help in the investigation of the car chase and reduced the flow of traffic in order to contain the investigation. The suspect’s car was impounded by police for evidence.

At the time of publication Wednesday evening, the suspect’s name had not been released.

A robbery suspect and a Waco resident are dead after a drug-related home invasion involving gunfire at 10:15 p.m. Tuesday at the 1900 block of 16th St., said Waco Police spokesman Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton.

Garrett Marshall Gage, a 17-year-old Temple resident, was shot in the leg and fled the scene. He was later detained and arrested several blocks away.

Gage, a resident, is being held without bond in the McLennan County Jail on a capital murder charge, according to police.

Authorities are unsure as to exactly how the gunfire was exchanged, but said they are sure that following the shots both suspects attempted to flee the scene.

The second suspect was wounded by a resident’s gunfire and collapsed outside the house. He was later transported to Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, according to police reports. The suspect was not identified.

Hiatt said authorities are not positive of how the alleged intruders were attempting to enter the house. But authorities said the reason for the intrusion is believed to be in order to steal illegal drugs and other property.

“It doesn’t appear that this was a random incident,” Hiatt said.

Later, police reports confirmed this statement. The suspects knew who they were targeting and why, police said.

Boomer and her roommate, Beaver Falls, Penn., graduate student Sierra Davies, were at home Tuesday evening when they became aware of activity in their backyard.

“I thought someone was banging on the back of the house,” Davies said. “My bedroom window is directly by the fence that leads into the backyard – the gate and that fence. And so I heard guys enter into that gate, but my blinds were closed so I couldn’t see anyone.”

Both Boomer and Davies said this was not the first time police responded to activity from neighbors in the house. Boomer said the house was previously broken into.

After an exchange of gunfire, one suspect was carried to the hospital and was pronounced dead. Skye Duncan | Lariat Photo Editor

“We’ve been here for two years now and this is the first time anything has happened consecutively,” Boomer said.

Hiatt and Swanton said neighbors should not be concerned.

“Anytime they (local residents) hear gunshots, they need to stay away from the doors and windows and contact 911,” Swanton said. “We need them to be good, safe witnesses. Stay on the phone and report what you see, people and vehicle descriptions. Of course, safety is our first concern. We don’t want anyone putting themselves in harm’s way.”

The incident did not involve Baylor students, according to police reports.

“A lot of the details won’t come out – won’t be available – until after we’ve wrapped up our investigation here,” Hiatt said.

When Carlos Colón went back to his native country of El Salvador to go attend a symphonic choral piece performance, he sat next to a man who could not read and was flying for the very first time. After ten years, he was finally being reunited with his family.

“I wanted to cry,” Colón said. “Think of that. You and I can fly almost anywhere we want. Why do we treat those that work alongside us different than we would like to be treated?”

Pilar Timpane, a promotion specialist from Duke University and Colón co-produced a film entitled “Lamentos con Alas,” which detailed efforts to help illegal immigrants once they have crossed the border, and identify those who do not reach their final destination.

The film was screened yesterday in the Alexander Reading Room where dozens of people gathered to watch it.

Jenny Howell, a graduate student, moderated a panel discussion after the screening of the film.

Colón said his primary motivation for producing the film was the hurt he felt for the man who hadn’t seen his family in ten years.

Colón found out that the man next to him had been granted temporary protected status and was able to go home.

Colón had heard many similar stories, but said he was not prepared for what they witnessed, such as the effects extreme heat and the bodies being exhumed, last summer when filming the movie.

The film featured Dr. Lori Baker, associate professor of anthropology from Baylor University, and Mr. Lavoyger Durham, a ranch owner in Brooks County.

Durham has found numerous undocumented bodies on trails throughout his ranch.

“I would say 95 percent of them die from dehydration,” Durham said in the film. “I don’t want for them to die on this ranch. I don’t want them to die period.”

Durham has set up water stations along the trails for the immigrants to drink. He has been accused of aiding and abetting the immigrants.

Dr. Baker has put much of her time into her program, “Reuniting Families.” This summer, she took students out to the border to exhume bodies that remained unidentified, as previously reported by the Lariat.

“They send them to Laredo,” Durham said in the film. “If they can’t identify them there then they send them to Dr. Lori.”

Some of the final resting places of the bodies are trash bags, Baker said.

“To bury someone and to find it acceptable to put someone in what they assumed would be their final resting place in a garbage bag is beyond something I can understand,” Dr. Baker said in the film.

Dr. Baker wants to restore dignity to the individuals who have died trying to get across the border.

“I’d like to say thank you to you guys and your support of a beautiful, haunting, painful documentary that tells one part of a story of what is unfolding over the summer in our state,” Howell said.

From here, Timpane and Colón are now working towards telling the story of what churches are doing to help these immigrants that are dying from dehydration.

“For me it is also telling a story that revolves around faith,” Timpane said.

This RadioShack store in Dallas, photographed on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015, is one of many stores in trouble. The company that introduced the first mass-market personal computer, is fading after years of heavy losses. Associated Press

By Emily Schmall
Associated Press

FORT WORTH — The signal from RadioShack Corp., the company that introduced the first mass-market personal computer, is fading after years of heavy losses and the suspension of its shares.

The beleaguered retailer, which thrived through decades of changing home electronics technology, had tried to remind consumers of its history by infusing its stores with a heavy dose of nostalgia.

At a newly retooled store in downtown Fort Worth, less than a mile from its corporate headquarters, camera drones and Bluetooth speakers are displayed next to clunky early model portable phones and computers.

A do-it-yourself wall of resistors, knobs, wire and other parts in the middle of the store is a throwback to its beginnings as a radio-parts retailer.
But hope of a turnaround is dissipating for the nearly century-old Texas company as the New York Stock Exchange seeks to delist it after suspending trade of its shares on Monday.

Now, store managers are being told to ship big-ticket items to more profitable locations while RadioShack keeps closing stores. Half a dozen store managers told The Associated Press they were instructed not to talk about the company’s dire financial straits.

After warning of a possible bankruptcy in September, RadioShack received rescue financing from a group of investors led by hedge fund Standard General. But its CEO recently warned it might not be able to find a long-term plan to stay afloat.

“Every year, RadioShack’s core customer grew a year older and new consumers realized they would never set foot in one,” said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter.
RadioShack spokeswoman Merianne Roth declined to comment.

Long known as a destination for batteries and obscure electronic parts, the company has sought to remake itself as a specialist in wireless devices and accessories.

In a management shake-up, RadioShack hired Walgreen Co. executive Joseph Magnacca and former Treasury Department adviser Harry J. Wilson to help with its turnaround efforts. It worked with popular brands like Beats Audio and redesigned almost half of its U.S. locations — some 2,000 stores — in an effort to entice younger shoppers.
But growth in the wireless business is slowing, as more people already have smartphones and see fewer reasons to upgrade.

RadioShack, which has not turned a profit since 2011, still operates nearly 5,500 stores and employs about 27,500 people worldwide, according to its last annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company, founded in Boston in 1921, began as a distributor of mail-order ship radios, ham radios and parts. In the 1950s, it entered the high-fidelity business, touting a device called the “Audio Comparator,” a then-novel switching system that allowed the customer to mix and match components and speakers in the listening room.

In 1977, RadioShack started selling the TRS-80, known affectionately by its users as the Trash 80, making the company as important in the microcomputer space as IBM or Apple.

“I think it’s a shame. They were the go-to place for electronics parts,” he said. Now, “it seems to be a mobile phone and remote-control toy store. If they’re still selling kits, they’re not marketing them very well.”

The McLennan County representatives voted unanimously in favor of a new rural transit system Thursday evening at the McLennan County Courthouse.

Commissioner Ben Perry said the contract with the Waco-Transit System will expand the current routes and provide more vehicles for citizens in McLennan County.

Rural transit is provided by the Heart of Texas Council of Governments. McLennan County pools money with five other counties to service citizens in all five of the counties.

According to County Judge Scott Felton, McLennan County provides 30 percent of the funds for these services.

Representatives said they partly supported this partnership because the new rural transit district will boost the economy by providing better transportation for workers in rural communities.

John L. Hendrickson, general manager of the Waco-Transit System, represented his company at the meeting. The company also operates the Baylor University Shuttle.

Since Waco-Transit already services the city of Waco, they plan to combine the rural transit with the city transit, in order to service more people.

Hendrickson’s presentation pointed to shortcomings in the service of the current provider of rural transit, Heart of Texas Council of Governments.

Under the current service, trips must be scheduled two days in advance and the service is operable only from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. Only two vans are designated for McLennan County with the current provider.

Because the service is only provided on weekdays, those who work over the weekend cannot use the rural transit services.

“Large number of routine trips are provided,” Hendrickson said. “That limits the number of other trips that are intermittent trips.”

Waco-Transit has 26 vehicles to service McLennan County when they begin providing service. It will also have standby employees on call in case a driver cannot make it to work, a feature the current provider does not have.

For many people who lived in formerly rural areas that are now classified as newly urbanized, this will provide previously unavailable transportation opportunities.

Cindy Barnett of Chalk Bluff is visually impaired and relies heavily on public transportation. She has been without service since April 2013, after a 2010 census classified her community as newly urban.

But with the Thursday’s decision, transportation may again be provided to Barnett and her community.

“In my opinion the whole McLennan County needs to be provided with good public transportation and that’s what they’re trying to do”, Barnett said.

Visually impaired citizens are not the only people who will benefit from the contract with the Waco-Transit. The new agreement will also help older citizens who can not drive and other people with disabilities.

“Especially as we’re starting to see the baby boomers get older,” Hendrickson said. “We’re recognizing more disabilities that prevent people from being able to operate vehicles, public transportation and walkable, livable communities is important to us to keep our competitive edge as a nation.”

The proposal will make it easier for those living in rural areas, who make the majority of Waco’s workforce, to travel to the city, said Waco mayor Malcolm Duncan.

The new contract will make transportation easier to and from Baylor’s campus for rural residents.

“We have professors that live in the rural area or workers that work in the dining facilities and then they can access that service to get to the Baylor campus,” Hendrickson said.

Hendrickson said he was pleased with the unanimous vote to contract with Waco-Transit. He also said council members see restructuring local transportation systems as imperative to the growth of McLennan County.

“I think the unanimous support shows that everyone realizes there is a need for these types of services,” Hendrickson said. “And that everyone is starting to see the benefit of these types of services. And so as we move forward as a country and then as a state and then as a community we’re starting to see the importance of this.”

An exact date for when Waco-Transit will begin providing service has not been decided.

With almost a month gone from 2015, students may be looking to restrengthen their New Year’s commitments to healthy eating.

Those wanting to do so can learn about healthy cooking options from 6 to 8 p.m. next Monday at the Creative Arts Building of the Extraco Events Center, where the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will present the 2015 Dinner Tonight Healthy Cooking School.

Baylor’s Dr. Janelle Walter, professor of family and consumer sciences, plans to speak about healthy and balanced meal planning.
The event will feature on-stage cooking demonstrations and a review of the Mediterranean-themed dishes prepared by an on-stage panel.

“Studies have shown that meals consumed out of the home usually contain more fat, calories and sodium than foods that a person prepares in their own kitchen,” said Jessica Theimer, coordinator for the program.

The program, which has taken place for the past three years, aims to provide guests with tools that help combat unhealthy eating with smarter menu choices.

“With obesity on a rise, our goal of the cooking school is to educate people on basic cooking skills, menu planning strategies and healthy living tips that they can incorporate into their everyday routine,” Theimer said.

Theimer emphasized the importance of creating healthy eating habits in a person’s 20s to increase the likelihood that they will continue later in life. She also espoused the benefits of eating healthily as a college student.

“Eating nutritious food affects your current energy level which will make you feel your best. When you feel your best, you can handle stress better, and we all know college students are stressed,” Theimer said.

Walter said she was concern that many students do not have variety and are lacking nutrition in the meals they eat.

“They don’t really see the need to plan, therefore when they go to prepare a meal they don’t have anything in their kitchen,” Walter said.

Walter hopes to educate students and other guests on the science of meal planning, beginning with meat and working the way down to drinks or dessert.

The cost for the event is $15 for students and $25 for others. This price includes a cookbook, a goody bag, door prizes and a chance to visit other vendors.

Those interested in attending the Dinner Tonight Healthy Cooking School can find registration information at baylorlariat.com.